"The Prescription Drug Take-Back campaign was a huge success," Harry S. Sommers, Special Agent in Charge of the DEA Atlanta Field Division, said in a statement. "This event was critical in stemming the tide of prescription drug abuse in this country."

According to the DEA, the rate of prescription drug abuse in the U.S. is alarmingly high, and medicines that sit unused in cabinet are highly susceptible to abuse.

Four days after the first-ever take-back event in September 2010, Congress passed the Secure and Responsible Drug Disposal Act of 2010, which allowed citizens to get rid of their prescription drugs at certain locations.